


Patched

by bexacaust



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Cuddling, F/M, Gen, Scars, homecomings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 02:56:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18460031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bexacaust/pseuds/bexacaust
Summary: In your houseI long to beRoom by roomPatiently





	Patched

She had lost count of the minutes, and the hours, and the days.

 

She spent every morning, waiting on the front porch of the bungalow hive they had made into their home- waiting and watching a cup of coffee go so very cold. She watched the steam roil and curl away from it, holding her midsection and shivering as she scanned the path up to the door and pleaded without words for His return-

 

She feared it would never happen.

 

She watched sky turn, every day since he laughed and promised to come home soon- watched the sky fade from pitch to ash to pale to rosy bright red; she watched and waited and wondered in ever turning mental spirals like a lollipop's design and wished he'd come home. Home to her, home soon like he promised. The skiff he'd found, that they'd fixed, that they sailed in bright summer sunshine, sat abandoned and alone at their private dock. Her face fell as the sun rose and Nothing greeted her at the door. She hiccuped softly, turned on her heel with a last look over her shoulder, and then pulled the door open. Her steps were padded and silent as she walked into their empty home to stare blankly at the walls.

 

The coffee cup sat outside, abandoned, as she felt.

 

She curled up on the couch, knees to chest and clutching a pillow and turned on the television without seeing the display.

 

She didn't know how long she stared at nothing- until she heard it. A clink, and a shatter. A swear under breath, and she leapt to her feet with needles in hand already as she toe-heeled her way back to the door. She exhaled slowly, narrowing her eyes and tensing her body as the knob turned...

 

To show Eridan, letting his elder pseudosibling lean on his shoulder. Needles fell from suddenly numb hands as she covered her mouth as Cronus looked up to her; the patch over his eye dark against the pale grey of his skin. Stitched with his symbol, it matched the black of his clothing and he carefully righted himself with Eridan watching in worry. Cronus cleared his throat, seeming unwilling to meet her gaze as she took slow steps towards him- at first.

 

And then she was thumping against his chest, burying her face against him and sobbing rust-red as her arms went over his shoulders and she babbled words that she barely understood. She knew his shirt would be damp with her tears, she knew the remains of last night's eyeshadow and mascara would smear down her cheeks like old blood but she couldn't bring herself to care, not after so long with him gone.

His arms closed around her gently at first, beginning to tighten into the heavy hugs she knew so fondly when her sobs wouldn't cease. Eridan watched, his face worried and fins pinned back against his head when he looked to Cronus.

 

"I'll leavve you twwo be then; you've got things t'talk about."

 

Cronus nodded, silent, and gently whispered soothing croons to the sobbing troll in his arms as he guided her into the hive and Eridan shut the door as he left.

 

"I knowv, Mara, I knowv. I vwas gone longer than I thought I vwould be.", he murmured, walking her back to the couch she had vacated; coaxing her to let him go long enough to sit down only for her to claw her way back into his arms with jittering breaths. He couldn't help the fond smile on his scarring face as she forced him to lean back only to clamber fully into his lap and bury her face against his neck near the gillfronds; letting her little breaths flutter over them as he sat and held her.

 

Then his good eye saw her hand raise, cup his cheek, and he began to talk.

 

"I'm not too good at dodging, I guess.", he said quietly, "Got a nasty hit to the eye; its... it's gone, now."

 

"Can I... see it?"

 

He nodded, and let her hand move to untie the band of the patch around his eye with a clack of long nails. It loosened, falling to sit around his neck like a collar and he turned his head to get a good look at her expecting pity, or shame, or worse... Disgust.

 

All he saw was her watery smile, her smudged makeup and her overshined eyes before she kissed the end of the scar, "My handsome fish.", she cooed, "You came home late. Rude. Coffee got cold."

 

He blinked his good eye, and couldn't help the bubble of laughter that started in his chest like a trench-vent shifting. She kissed the scar's edge again before nuzzling his cheek and he held her tighter when her arms went back over his shoulders.

 

"The coffee can vwait, babe. I'm doin' just fine vwithout it right nowv."

**Author's Note:**

> Happy 4/13


End file.
